Ray Doyle & the 7 CI5 agents
by Frankie McStein
Summary: Follows Snow White in that a royal family member escapes death, hids in the forest and finds a house.


Disclaimer- They are not mine. Much as I want them, I can't have them and though it makes me sad, at least I have the DVDs. All four seasons of them. YEY!  
  
  
Ray Doyle & the 7 CI5 agents  
  
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a land far, far away, there lived a large number of people and a royal family, as is often the case. The king was jolly, the queen was beautiful, and their only child, a son, known to all as Prince Ray for that was his name, was a ray of sunshine in the lives of all who knew him. All in the kingdom were joyful under the rule of this family, for they were just, and kind, and peace was synonymous with their family name of Doyle, regardless of the large number of weapons the youngest family member was proficient with   
  
But dark times were to fall upon this land. The queen fell sick, and her husband became withdrawn. In a matter of days, the good queen had died. The fate of the bad queen is still under investigation. Though many rumours started, all with the same main meaning, that the queen's death was not natural, none were ever substantiated, and, as no one was ever arrested, no one was ever blamed.  
  
Eventually, after a sufficient amount of time had passed so as to avoid raising suspicion,a young woman came to the attention of the king. In looks, she resembled the queen, but that was the only similarity. Around the king, Anne was as kind and good natured as the dead queen had been until she died. But in private, she was cold and manipulative.  
  
The young prince tried desperately to bring the woman's true character to his fathers attention, but the king was too captivated by Anne to want to see the truth and so, as most old men charmed by young women are apt to be, he remained ignorant.  
  
A few short months after meeting Anne, the king announced he was marring her, and just a few months after that, the good king died. Again, there were many rumours of deliberate death and the bad king taking over, but after people repeating these rumours fell in to the nasty habit of disappearing, they quickly stopped  
  
As time passed, the grand palace that held such happy memories for young Ray turned in to a prison. He lived in constant terror of drawing attention to himself, as his stepmother was no stranger to psychologically harming punishments, which she took great pleasure in dealing out. The happy, exuberant child he had been faded away with the passage of time, until he was little more than shadow, rarely heard, and even less often seen.  
  
By the time he had turned 19, Ray had almost totally forgotten the joyful life he had lived with his parents. Living under the tyrannical presence of his stepmother for six years had destroyed his fragile self confidence. Every malicious lie Anne had ever whispered in to his ear seemed to constantly reverberate in his head, until, despite constant tests by the palace doctor which assured him his hearing was perfect, they were all he heard.   
  
He heard her voice so much, he had come to believe it. He believed it so much, it was doubtful anything, or anyone would be able to help him. Then, one day, of chain of events started that was as surprising as it was wholly unpredictable, to the people involved, as these things always are.  
  
The queen had tired of the knowledge of the presence of her stepson, even though he was never seen by her anymore. The strain of such an unfamiliar action would plague her for weeks, still she gave careful thought to the problem. Eventually, after what would for normal people be classed as an embarrassingly long amount of time, she came up with what she felt was the perfect solution.  
  
What the description really should have been was that it was the only solution her feeble little mind could manage to concoct. Anyway, she set about implementing her startlingly unoriginal idea'. It was a few days before she could get to see her head guard. When she did, what she had to ask him shocked even his battle scarred, minimum sized brain.  
  
Find my stepson, take him in to the woods, say it is for a self-defence lesson or some such nonsense. Then, when you are far enough away from here to avoid anyone seeing or hearing, I want you to kill him.  
Kill? You want me to kill Prince Ray?  
Do you have a problem with that?  
The guard drew himself up to his full height.  
No ma'am.  
Good. Then do it.  
  
Turning to walk away, she inclined her head back towards him and said,  
Do not fail me. I have no wish to see you heart interfere with you doing your duty.  
The guard's expression hardened and his eyes iced over, a useful trick he had learnt from an old friend whilst playing poker.  
No ma'am!  
There was no reply.  
  
So it came to pass that early one morning the 19 year old Prince Ray was led away from his home and up to the edge of a sinister forest. He had been told it was for target practice.  
  
Why do I need target practice? I'm a class A marksman.  
I didn't tell you what the target was to be.  
Ray shrugged, involved in loading his Walther.  
The target was to be you.  
So saying, the guard drew his own weapon and trained it on Ray. Then, he shifted his aim and fired off one round.   
  
In case she sent somebody to spy, he explained as he quickly heaved Ray on to his arms and carried him in to the forest. Once he was certain they were well hidden by the trees, he put Ray down and whispered at him to run. Ray needed no second telling, the guard having terrified him by such familiar handling of his person. The explanation of who had ordered him killed didn't sink in until a few hours later.  
  
He didn't look back once as he ran. He didn't know where he was going, or what he would do when he got there. He just ran, not caring about the branches that snagged at his clothes or whipped at his face. He didn't slow until dark, and then, because he thought it would be best, he didn't stop.  
  
If he knew more about the forest, he would have waited until he could see, but he was to scared to stay still for long, convinced that his stepmother's guards were chasing after him. He had no chance of avoiding the rabbit trap, he didn't see it until it was closed around his foot.  
  
Not very far away, in a little house the inhabiting CI5 operatives referred to as HQ, one man suddenly sat bolt upright, listening intently, convinced he had heard a scream. He had almost convinced himself it was imagination when the scream sounded again. It was weaker, but still full of pain, and definitely human.  
  
He ran out of his office and hurried down the corridor to the restroom where his seven operatives were lounging. Only they weren't all lounging. One of them, Bodie, Cowley's team loner was starring out of the window, squinting at the dark. He turned as Cowley came rushing in.  
  
I just heard a yell lads, said Cowley, dispensing with preamble. Bodie, you look awake. Get out there and see what it was. Better take your weapon.  
Bodie only nodded, already headed to the door. It only took him fifteen minutes to find Ray, but it was long enough for the loss of blood to have become serious. Ray had lost his grip on sanity a long time ago, and was on the verge of losing his grip on consciousness when Bodie found him.  
  
Bloody hell.  
Bodie gave a piercing whistle and listened until he heard several other CI5 agents come crashing through the underbrush. Then he turned his attention to Ray, who was dangerously close to passing out.  
  
Come on sunshine, he muttered,whilst quickly checking for any other injuries besides the stunningly obvious one of the metal trap in his ankle  
Stay with me ok? Just keep your eyes open. Bodie kept up his one way conversation, noticing it seemed to have an effect on the man lying in front of him.  
  
Called me sunshine?'   
The voice was painfully weak, but Bodie heard and looked back at the face of the man.  
What is your name?  
Ray Doyle, came the whispered response. As Bodie starred at him in shock, Ray's head slumped to one side and his eyes closed, as is prone to happen when conciseness is lost.  
  
It was almost one week before Ray woke up again, and no this does not mean he was unbelievably lazy. At Cowley's instructions, he had been placed in a back room and put under the care of CI5's live in doctor. The rumour in the little house was that this meant he would never survive and due to this low opinion of the doctor, the operatives were of the opinion Ray wouldn't recover.  
  
Bodie kept his opinion to himself, afraid that he would reveal what he knew, that the man was in fact the Prince. Ray surprised them all when he woke up. People who you think will sleep forever have a habit of scaring you when they suddenly open their eyes, and this was no exception.  
  
Is it morning?  
Not quite, replied the stunned doctor, wondering if he had accidentally taken some of his own painkillers again and if he was talking with an hallucination.   
I just wanted to know if I should say good morning or not.  
The doctor looked confused for a second and then left the room, muttering,  
I better get Cowley, either this guy's insane or I need to put bigger labels on my medicine bottles.  
  
Cowley was there in a matter of seconds.  
How are you feeling lad? he asked cautiously, aware that the shock of his injury could catch up with Ray quite suddenly, not to mention the shock he was feeling at someone who had been under the doctors care waking up.  
Fine thank you sir. Can I ask a question?  
  
Where am I?  
  
You're in the HQ of CI5.  
CI5? What happened to the other four?  
They hired their services out to people who needed law enforcers so I set this operation up to get rid of them and rebuild the reputation of the CI groups.  
How'd I get here?  
  
One of my men found you caught in a rabbit trap almost a week ago.  
A week! Has anyone been round, asking for me?  
Take it easy lad. No one comes round here thanks to us. You're the first person to come through here who wasn't working for me in almost three years.   
  
Local rumour that circulated before Cowley and his men had rooted all the locals out of their hiding places and seen to it justice was done had it that there was another reason altogether why no one went round the house anymore, but that's neither here nor there.  
Ray sank back on to the pillows and breathed a sigh of relief.  
Thank God.  
Why lad? Who was chasing you?  
  
Ray looked over at the doctor and waited until the man had walked out before telling Cowley who he was, and who he thought had been after him. Cowley, like Bodie before him starred at Ray for a while before speaking again.  
  
I can see why you were running lad. Lucky that guard changed his mind.  
Ray only nodded, to tired to speak.  
I could help you know.  
Ignoring Ray's sceptical look and the somewhat dodgy undertone of his statement Cowley continued, knowing he was jeopardising his organisation, but unable to ignore the plight of the young Prince.  
You join CI5. That way, you'll be able to stay here, away from your... peculiar step mother.  
  
Ray didn't answer and Cowley realised he had fallen asleep again. He walked out, deep in thought, and entered the rest room before truly realising were he was headed. All seven operatives looked up as he walked in. obviously curious about their visitor.  
He's joining CI5. He'll begin his training as soon as the doctor clears him. You will all work with him during his training, I want him partnered if at all possible.  
He was looking at Bodie while he said this, and noticed Bodie was looking away.  
Oh well, maybe he just can't work with anyone.  
  
The months passed, they couldn't be stopped. The people in the kingdom of Criminalintelligentium had mourned the loss of Prince Ray and were good-naturedly returning to living their lives as normal. But in the forest, in the HQ of CI5, nothing was normal. Ray was turning everything upside-down as easily as he was completing his training sessions.  
  
Everything his instructors, the other seven operatives, threw at him, he did, well, and even set records for some of the exercises he did. After the first month when he broke Anson's arm and Murphy's jaw in what was supposed to be a friendly session, none of them except Bodie would spar with him. But Bodie took on more and more responsibility concerning Ray's training. After another few months, Bodie was Ray's sole trainer, despite the fact that Ray, like most people had two feet.   
  
The other six operatives watched in wonder as the two men pushed each other to their limits and beyond. Cowley watched to, but thoughtfully. In the back of his mind was a hope that he had finally found a partner for Bodie. Blissfully unaware of the sexual implications that that particular thought held, he continued his silent assessment of the relationship that was growing between Bodie and Ray.  
  
It took almost seven moths for Ray to complete his training. This annoyed six of the operatives who had all trained for a year before even thinking about doing the grade tests. Bodie saw it as a result of his training and took a great measure of pride in the fact, whereas Cowley saw it as as sign that he had done the right thing in letting Ray join his organisation.  
  
Eight months after Ray joined CI5, or one month after he was put on active duty if you want to get pedantic, Cowley asked him and Bodie to report his office.  
I've had reports that some maniac has been using one of the old houses round here as a base for some questionable operations. Go and check it out. Both of you. As of now, you're a team.  
  
To his surprise, neither man argued about being partnered, although both were as independent as the other, and he had been expecting to fight them both. He watched them go until they had disappeared in to the distance,which wasn't all that far but he had forgotten his glasses. Then he sat down at his desk and reviewed his method of moving the locals, wondering if it couldn't be reused on the people now closest to the house. Hey, it worked once right?  
  
Meanwhile, as Cowley was wondering how far through the red tape he could cut before he caught fingers, Bodie and Ray were approaching the derelict house where the aforementioned person was supposedly hiding. How they knew which house to go to when Cowley hadn't told them is a sign of just how thorough their training had been.  
  
As it was Bodie who had trained Ray, they didn't need to take time out to discuss when they should move or where they would be going when they did move. At some invisible signal that both men somehow saw, they both ran to the house at the same time, one taking the front and one taking the back. Although the author takes this moment to laugh at the undertone of what she just wrote, she ignores it in favour of telling her readers what's going on.  
  
After a gunfight that didn't take place due to the suspect not having a gun, Bodie walked over to the edge of a large mine shaft that was dominating the centre of the room.  
he yelled down, wondering if the man was keeping prisoners down there.  
came the echo.  
Is anyone there?  
Is anyone there? As before the echo threw his words back.  
Yes, I'm here, he yelled back.  
Yes, I'm here.  
  
Bodie turned to Ray.  
He's keeping people down there! he exclaimed disgusted before turning back to the pit. Ray, unsure of whether he was serious or not wisely kept his mouth shut.  
Are you all right? Bodie shouted, listening carefully to the the echo returning his words.  
I'm all right, he shouted down, in response.  
  
He listened to the echo and then turned to Ray again, relief written over his face.  
Thank God. Whoever it is, he's ok.  
So saying, Bodie walked out of the house, leaving Ray and the prisoner very confused.  
  
The interrogation was another very confusing matter. It turned out that Bodie was serious about the whole echo conversation and insisted on interrupting Cowley's questions to ask about the person he believed the man was holding in the mine. It took a combined effort on behalf of Cowley, Ray and the prisoner to talk Bodie out of going down the mine to mount a rescue. The conversation Bodie held with his own echo has since passed in to CI5 history.  
  
Later, when Cowley had booked the man for pilfering coal, it was revealed that there was a film showing in the local cinema that Cowley thought would make a nice rest bite for his men. Never mind the fact that Bodie and Ray are so far the only one's who've done any work.   
  
However, due to the trouble that would most definitely arise if Ray went to the city again, it transpired that he drew the short straw and had to stay and guard the house and it's contents. Neither Ray nor Cowley thought it prudent to tell the other operatives Ray had volunteered for the job, fearing questions that they didn't want asked because no one other than Cowley, Bode and of course Ray himself knew Ray was the prince.  
  
So it came to pass that the house that was usually so well guarded was empty except for Ray. He had every confidence in the perimeter security devices and knew full well that he could easily defend the house should they be breached. Therefore, he had no qualms about curling up in a large, overstuffed arm chair with a cup of coffee and a book full of pictures of naked men and women doing strange things with their hands and using blunt objects to... um... he read his book.  
  
Guess what folks, the author decided this was to convenient to miss and, with the help of some subtle plot twisting, is bringing this story back to the story it's based on. heehee. Anyway, Ray was all alone in the house, the other operatives were out of RT. range, and, unknown to him, the power had failed, leaving his early warning system off-line.  
  
The power in the cinema had a sixty minute backup generator. The CI5 agents who were watching the film had no idea anything was wrong until the film stopped and the cinema owner informed them of the problem. They eight of them spent sometime chatting amongst themselves after they collected their refunds until Jax suddenly said,  
If there's no power, doesn't that mean they perimeter defence system is down?  
  
Panic filed the faces of Cowley and Bodie and both raced for their cars. Bodie reached his first and had already pulled away when Cowley reached his. It didn't take long for the other six men to recover themselves. They quickly caught on to the urgency of the other two and ran for their cars as well.   
  
Unfortunately, a car that swerved to avoid Bodie crashed in to a van carrying honey and the rest of the convey had no choice but to watch his brake lights disappear in to the night and hope that he would not be to late to help Ray in whatever situation they were sure was unfolding.  
  
As it was, once the wreckage of the van and truck had been cleared, the cars were allowed to pass thanks to Cowley waving his identification around. They were about twenty minutes behind Bodie and despite the fact that it was normally a forty minute drive, knew full well that the way he drove, he would already be there.  
  
For once they were all right. No one is sure how Bodie managed to drive up to house that is situated in the middle of a forest, but he did. Still, no matter how quickly he had driven, it would not have been fast enough. When he ran up to the house, the front door was hanging open. A bodie was lying on the path and another two were in the front hall.  
  
Yelling for Ray as he went, Bodie quickly checked the house before ascertaining Ray could only be outside as he wasn't in in any of the rooms. Running through the backdoor caused Bodie to trip over another body, one he recognise as Ray. Rolling him over as gently as he could, he gasped as he saw the bruising on the man's face and chest where his shirt had been ripped open.  
  
Looking beyond the perimeter Bodie was gratified to see two more bodies, as dead as the others had been, although he has since gone a record that he wishes Ray had left him one or two to deal with. Feeling Ray shift slightly Bodie looked down to see his eyes were open.  
  
What happened Ray? No he's not stupid, he's just trying to get Ray to stay awake.  
They charged the building. That guy w arrested the other day told them where it was, he was a set up. Took out one on the path, another two in the hall. The other two grabbed me and dragged me out here, give em selves more room. I caught em in the back as they ran off, thought I was out. They were working for my stepmother, she found out the guard didn't kill me.  
  
Ray gasped as pain racked his body, and then his head fell back agaisnt Bodie's leg, the explanation having taken all his remaining strength.  
  
Bodie didn't dare move him and so when the other members of this somewhat odd organisation returned, strangely enough, that's how they found them. Ray was easily carried to his room with more men present and Bodie gave Cowley a report, including how he had driven up to the front of the house. However this is a fact that has been protected under the official secrets act and can not be printed, so let's just take it as written that he carried his car there, ok?  
  
It didn't take Ray long to wake up and he confirmed what Bodie had said, probably because it was what has happened. The next day Susan came running in to the sick room and waved a newspaper around.  
The queen is dead! She was killed last night in an uprising when an unnamed source revealed that the Prince is still alive despite the fact that she ordered him to be killed. They printed a picture of the Prince.  
  
Everyone gathered round to look at the picture, wondering if their skills could be used to find him. Then, once the picture had been seen, they turned as one to look at Ray.  
Will you be going back?  
  
It was Bodie who asked, and was most surprised when Ray shook his head.  
I don't want to leave CI5, he said simply.  
Cowley walked in.  
Who said you have to leave? he asked, the scot in him already planing how best to use the money access to the royal treasury would give him.  
  
And so it came to pass that CI5 became the royal trouble sorter outers. The fact that the king was a member caused little comment, after all, people who spread rumours had developed the habit of disappearing, and everyone knows how CI5 cleared the locals around their house in the forest, don't they?  
  
  
  
Well there you go, you didn't ask for it, but you got it anyway. Another messed up fairy story.


End file.
